Hazardous Condition at Driveway of 49 5th Ave SoDATE: November 23, 1981
TO: Commander Jack C. Pratt
FROM: Sergeant Calvin C. Johnson
SUBJECT: Hazardous Condition at Driveway of 49 5th Avenue South
I. Problem
Attempt to remove the hazardous condition created when a vehicle exits from or
enters into the driveway to the underground garage at 49 5th Avenue South.
II. Assumptions
A. There is a hazardous condition at the driveway of 49 5th Avenue South and
adjacent to it.
B. The opening of the northbound off ramp of County Road 3 onto 5th Avenue South
in late 1980 added to an already somewhat congested area.
C. There is a hazardous condition when leaving and when entering this hidden
driveway..
III. Facts Bearing on the Problem
A. There were two (2) non injury accidents in the summer of 1981 at the northbound
off ramp of County Road 3 onto northbound 5th Avenue South. This information
is from Mr. H. Vance Rorbach, the first man on the petition. Mr. Rorbach was
one of those who was rear ended when he came off County Road 3 and slowed down
to turn into the driveway at 49 5th Avenue South.
B. There no police accident reports available on the two accidents that
Mr. Rorbach talked of.
C. The police department accident pin map shows three (3) personal injury and
four (4) property damage accidents at the intersection of 5th Avenue and
County Road 3 for 1981, through October.
D. When a driver exits from the garage at 49 5th Avenue South, he will either
turn left (south) or right (north). If he turns right he must yield to three
seperate groups of traffic. They are as follows:
1. Northbound traffic crossing County Road 3 from south of County Road 3.
There is no problem here because he has a view of this traffic from
approximately 150 feet away.
2. County Road 3 eastbound traffic making left turns to go north on 5th
Avenue South. This is no problem because vehicles making left turns off
County Road 3 are approximately 100 feet away and are usually coming at
ahem from a stop or slow speed.
3. County Road 3 westbound traffic making right turns off County Road 3 to
go north on 5th Avenue South. This is a problem because the southwest
corner of the apartment building 49 5th Avenue South) obstructs the view
to the southeast (County Road 3 northbound off ramp).
There is a distance of only 60 feet between the exiting driver and when
November 23, 1981
Page 2
he can first see a vehicle coming toward him on the County Road 3 off
ramp to northbound 5th Avenue South (see A, B, and C on Annex A and also
see picture #3 on Annex B and picture #7 on Annex C. These all relate to
the 60 foot distance described above).
An exiting driver who turns left when coming out of the driveway has four
groups of traffic that he must yield to. He has to yield to the same three
groups that the person making the right turn does plus the southbound traffic
on 5th Avenue South.
E. There is a yield sign (Annex B, picture #3) at the northeast corner of this
intersection.
This yield sign causes drivers on the County Road 3 northbound off ramp to
realize they must yield to the northbound traffic on 5th Avenue South that has
come across County Road 3 or off eastbound County Road 3 from the left turn
signal.
This driver, who is northbound off County Road 3, is looking left and not looking
north on 5th Avenue South to make sure he has yielded to the 5th Avenue South
northbound traffic.
When he is finally sure that he can proceed north on 5th Avenue South, he is
only about 30 feet from the hidden driveway at 49 5th Avenue South.
During the time that this driver, on the County Road 3 off ramp, is making his
turn and before he has started his turn, he should, if he is obeying the law,
have his right turn signal on.
Assuming that he has had his right turn signal on all this time and he wants to
turn into the hidden driveway at 49 5th Avenue South, he has no way of notifying
a driver to his rear that he is all of a sudden going to make a right turn into
this hidden driveway.
As the driver is turning into this driveway, he has probably slowed to about
5 m.p.h.. If a driver to his rear has viewed the County Road 3 and 5th Avenue
South intersection and found that he must yield to any northbound traffic on
5th. Avenue South, he has stopped to yield to this traffic.
If the driver to the rear of the vehicle turning right into the hidden driveway
has viewed the County Road 3 and 5th Avenue South intersection and has seen no
northbound traffic on 5th Avenue South, he will proceed at anywhere from 5 m.p.h.
to 20 m.p.h. or will have reached that speed by the time he gets to the hidden
driveway.
The hazardous part of this is that in this short distance of 20 to 30 feet and
in a period of one to three seconds, it is questionable if the following driver
will recognize that the vehicle in front of him is going to turn right into the
driveway and be able to take appropriate action. Mr. Rorbach told me he was
rear ended this way this summer.
Please see Annex B, picture #4 and try to visualize a vehicle turning right
into the driveway in front of the yellow station wagon, which may be going as
much as 20 m.p.h..
F. Sixty feet north of the driveway at 49 5th Avenue South, along the east curb
of 5th Avenue South, there is a 15 minute parking zone that is 30 feet long
(see F on Annex A). The rest of the area is no parking anytime.
November 23, 1981
Page 3
When this parking zone is occupied it causes 5th Avenue South to become a one
lane road for northbound traffic. At this point, any northbound cars, possibly
two lanes, get involved in a yield situation.
G. There is an area directly west of the garage driveway on the west side of
5th Avenue South, where vehicles park by driving in from an alley or over the
curb.
When these vehicles back out into southbound 5th Avenue South, they have a
limited view of what traffic is coming at them from southbound 5th Avenue South.
This parking area appears to be a vacant lot where, I believe, a house was
torn down.
H. There is a distance of 30 feet from the garage door to the east curb of
5th Avenue South.
The average car is 16 to 18 feet long.
If a vehicle comes off County Road 3 from the east and finds the entrance to
the garage already occupied, he is going to be able to enter the driveway only
halfway, with the balance of his vehicle occupying the northbound lane of
5th Avenue South and creating a hazard.
I. There are 24 parking spaces in the garage.
IV. Discussion
A. I have inquired of most of the officers on the department and none of them
recall being called to an accident directly related to egress or ingress at
the driveway of 49 5th Avenue South.
B. When I took the pictures and measurements in this area on 11- 16 -81, I viewed
several vehicles coming off County Road 3 onto southbound 5th Avenue South at
what appeared to be 15 to 20`m.p.h..
I wondered at the time how a young inexperienced pedestrian or an elderly,
slow- moving pedestrian would be able to cope with this complicated intersection
which has so many movements and so many things happening in such a short distance.
The same would apply to drivers with below average visual acuity and mental and
physical reactions.
C. It is hard for me to believe that we have not had more than the two accidents
Mr. Rorbach told me about. I can not think of another intersection in town
where so many traffic movements are taking place in such a compact area.
V. Conclusions
A. There is a hazardous condition here. There is no complete solution to this
problem.
B. One could say the garage should not have been permitted at all. As I recall,
the building was built before the County Road 3 upgrading was in the planning
stage.
C. The garage is here to stay and we should attempt to make egress and ingress
as safe as possible.
D. There are a number of possible partial cures for this problem.
November 23, 1981
Page 4
E. The first request by the petitioners (add a new curb which will force the
northbound traffic into a center lane going north on 5th Avenue, etc.) is
not reasonable because it will cause northbound traffic to have to merge
to soon after crossing County Road 3 from the south. 5th Avenue South is
a two lane road south of County Road 3 and should remain that way north of
County Road 3 also.
F. The 30 foot, 15 minute parking zone, on the east side of 5th Avenue South,
causes congestion at peak traffic hours, when it is occupied. Persons being
dropped off here could be driven into the parking lot at 39 5th Avenue South,
which is only 30 feet away.
Two stop signs (see D and E on Annex A) would permit ingress and egress from
the driveway more safely because it would negate the possibility of being rear
ended if going in and negate the limited view problem to the southeast of those
going out because there would be no probability of a vehicle coming off the
northbound off ramp of County Road 3 at 15 to 20 m.p.h.. Those exiting could
view these vehicles sitting still at the stop signs.
VI. Action Recommended
A. Place two stop signs at the east side of 5th Avenue South where County Road 3
northbound off ramp joins it.(see D and E on Annex A). One stop sign is
inadequate because the driver's attention is left (southwest) 90% of the time
while approaching 5th Avenue South.
Place a "stop sign ahead" sign to the east of the two stop signs mentioned
in A. This sign should be about 80 to 100 feet east of the two stop signs
described in A. This sign should be reflectorized for night time use (see
G on Annex A).
C. Remove the 30 foot, 15 minute parking zone on 5th Avenue South as shown on
Annex A, G. This would relieve the possibility of failure to yield accidents
that may occur when this 15 minute parking zone is occupied.
D. Consideration could be given to the two signs described on Annex E:
1. "Caution Hidden Driveway ahead"
2. "Hidden Exit" with an arrow
These signs would be less effective than the two stop signs and the "Stop
Ahead" sign.
ANNEX LEGENDS
A. Overview of 5th Avenue South and County Road 3 intersection including the
apartment building at 49 5th Avenue South
B. Pictures 1 through 4 of County Road 3 and 5th Avenue South area
C. Pictures 5 through 8 of County Road 3 and 5th Avenue South intersection
D. Petition from residents of 49 5th Avenue South
E. Diagram and explanation of two signs that might be considered
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